Democrats take on GOP over Iraq strategy

[Ron Burgundy]

AP - A congressional candidate said Saturday that a Democrat-led House would fight for a new direction in Iraq so U.S. troops can come home.

"No matter how bad Iraq gets or how many respected Americans say that our strategy is not working ... our president and his Republican Congress have promised not to change a thing if they are returned to power," Pennsylvania Democrat Lois Murphy said in her party's weekly radio address.

"Democrats will tackle the challenges that we face head on," she said.

Murphy, a lawyer, is challenging Republican Rep. Jim Gerlach (news, bio, voting record), a two-term incumbent from suburban Philadelphia whom she nearly beat in 2004. Their rematch is considered one of the nation's most competitive races. Democrats need to gain 15 seats in Tuesday's elections to win control of the House.

Murphy has said the Iraq war has made America less safe and Congress should demand that President Bush present a comprehensive plan for success. Gerlach has accused her of being inconsistent in her support for U.S. troops in Iraq.

A Democrat-led Congress would raise the minimum wage, exercise fiscal responsibility, enact ethic reforms and encourage stem cell research, Murphy said. She also said Democrats would work with GOP members.

"This pattern of being out-of-touch and out-of-sync with the American people, this failure to take our responsibility, has carried over to the corruption that plagues our Congress, the deficit that threatens our children and the health care costs that burden our families," Murphy said.

Matt Burns, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Republican Party, responded, "Lois Murphy and her friends in the Democratic Party have consistently opposed strong measures to protect the American people, and plan to roll back tax cuts that have helped millions of hard-working American families keep more and send less to Washington."

Democrats, Burns said, "cannot change the fact they are wrong on national security, wrong on taxes, long on rhetoric and short on solutions."

Bush has said Democrats don't have a plan to keep Americans safe from terrorists, and that the United States is winning the war in Iraq. He's also heralded tax cuts he said have led to a strong and growing economy.

"Harsh criticism is not a plan for victory. Second-guessing is not a strategy," Bush said at a campaign stop Friday.